Azoth Scope
by HartCanDance
Summary: Jacob knows death, he's faced it, he's looked it in the eye and denied it power, but can he still deny death when his mother's past catches up to him, and his "essence" draws him out of reality, and into Belli Castle where this all started.
1. Prolouge

The frost-stiffened grass let out a light crunch as Fiona's bare feet stepped lightly off the cold stone bridge. She didn't know how she got here and she certainly wasn't unhappy that she was departing. The horrors that she had lived through in the past two days played in her head like a film reel on an endless loop. She had seen her life flash before her eyes so many times she had lost count, and the physical pain didn't help the emotional struggle.

Blood leaked from a gash on her side, soaking the expensive silk clothes she was wearing, but the clothes meant nothing to her as long as she could get out of this hellish place. Fiona's canine companion, Hewie, nudged the back of her leg, urging her to continue on through the forest. She pushed on, continuing through her sea of dread, step after step hoping that each one was worthwhile.

But before she knew it, she was facing an immense river, about 80 feet wide, with waters darker than ink. If she tried to swim across, the cold would surely take her life before she could drown in the rushing water. There was no way across from where she was at, and she couldn't see very far in either direction because the thick mass of trees surrounding her. She turned to head upstream and called Hewie to her side, and together they began to walk.

As they walked, the sky began to cloud as twilight set in and their shadows gradually got longer and more distorted. Fiona paused and removed her hand from her wound to find that her side was finally done bleeding. As she stood there examining her wound, rain began to fall, and gradually it grew harder. Lightning illuminated the sky and a clap of thunder rang out as Fiona and Hewie continued to search for a way across. In the distance Fiona could make out something arching over the river, and she continued towards it through the downpour.

At her dismay, it was only a fallen tree with its bottom splintered and glowing with the remains of unextinguished embers. Obviously the base of the tree had been struck by lightning, and it had fallen across the river and just barely connected with the adjacent banks.

"C'mon, boy!" Fiona called to Hewie, and he jumped up on the fallen tree to guide her across. Fiona questioned whether she should have waited until it stopped raining, because the log was even slicker than she had imagined. As she slowly crawled across, guided by Hewie, she noticed the water level of the river was starting to rise, and if she didn't get across soon then she would be swept away into the river. Her pulse quickened and she edged her face with a look of concentration as she pushed onward. As she neared a fourth of the way across, the water began to skim the bottom of tree trunk.

Pieces of bark slipped away into the current and bobbed under the water then disappeared. Fiona's legs began to slip on slick wood as she quickly crawled onward, and she finally reached the halfway point of the tree, which meant that she had half of a chance to live.

And then the trunk snapped clean in half, just about ten feet behind her, and the entire tree shifted on the bank. Luckily the half she was currently fighting to maintain her grip on slid diagonally downriver and its other end was weighted down by sand on the banks. The other half of the tree was swallowed up by the deadly river, and it didn't even bob up to the surface.

Fiona was halfway submerged in the water, adrenaline being the only thing that kept her holding onto the log. She struggled to get out before it was too late, and Hewie also seemed to know the danger she was in, because he was struggling to keep Fiona's sleeve in his mouth. Both of them fought the current with the last of their strength and little by little Fiona was able to surface on the log. Her teeth chattered as she struggled to surmount the temperature and move on.

Fiona pulled herself onto the banks and staggered disorientedly to the edge of a clearing, where she dropped onto the ground, shivering uncontrollably. Hewie nudged her face and gently pushed her forward, and Fiona realized he was right, they needed to move on or they could face impending doom at pneumonia. Fiona nodded at him and struggled to her feet, "Let's go Hewie" and they walked further into the forest of leafless, colorless trees.

Fiona walked on and on and she continued into the enveloping darkness where her best chance was to hope that she didn't bump into anything, but she did eventually bump into something, and it was only something she could describe from her state as "The Wall of Reality".

A strange violet light emanated from a distance into the wall and for a minute Fiona believed that the impenetrable barrier would hold her away from the light that she thought of as a portal. But a portal to where, exactly? She could only hope a portal to better times.

She struggled as she shoved her arm into the thick magic substance between her and her departure from this hell. Hewie barked at the light, but this time it wasn't a warning bark, it was a hopeful bark, he was ready to leave as well. Fiona was a finger-length away from the light, her entire arm submerged in the alchemic material, and with one final push she shoved her entire body into the wall and grasped hold of the portal…..

Time stood still, everything that had ever happened was viewed upon by Fiona, the only one who was willing to break psychological bonds in order to acquire what she and Hewie had been looking for this whole time: salvation. She saw all that had happened during her time at Belli castle, and she saw that there was someone else in on this entire situation, someone that Fiona had never encountered, but she knew they were on her side and she watched how he had secretly helped her from the moment this victim of Riccardo's tyranny ever even awoke in Belli castle.


	2. Chapter 1

**Authors Note: Yay! First chapter already! I do have to say though I didn't think I was originally going to end the prologue that way, but just when she got out of the river the idea popped into my head! The game itself was involved with a lot of dark arts and psychology so I decided to add some original flavor from the game storyline. Well onto the first chapter then.**

The comforter ruffled as Jacob slowly moved his hand to the edge to pull the warmth up to his neck. He sneezed and the noise quietly echoed, which was strange because the oddly small size of his room would never let that happen. He hadn't opened his eyes yet, hoping to still catch some sleep that would probably never come. Still it was worth a shot though; he wasn't and had never been a morning person. He sneezed again, and he started to wonder if he was coming down with a cold or something.

Then the swaying stench of decay hit his nose and he sat bolt upright. He looked around; hoping the smell would pass but realization hit him like a bullet of disbelief. No, he wasn't in his quiet suburban bedroom; he wasn't lying under his plaid patterned comforter with his German Sheppard next to him. Gone was the welcoming presence of the Belli abode, and in was the cold sense of the hostile environment he didn't know he had been in the whole time he was awake.

He was in a large old-fashioned ballroom, covered in streaks of blood that spelled out indistinguishable words from ceiling to floor. In the middle of the circular dome-shaped ballroom there was a queen-sized bed in which he sat, but other than that there was no furniture.

The fetid stench stood stalwart in the air, and began to make Jacobs eyes water. He slid slowly from under the blankets, noticing that he was wearing a thin stained surgery gown with sleeves that went down just an inch past his elbows and a hem that stopped at his thighs. The sides were stretched and sown at increments so that he could see his skin where it drew back. It was certainly a weird dressing and obviously it was old, and he found himself wondering what country it was from.

Jacob stood up carefully trying to come to terms with his situation, and he spotted the only window in the room. He made his way over to it, being careful not to step in any of the blood on the floor, and looked over the edge. There was a magnificent garden surrounding a humongous Greek-styled fountain, if only he could get down there.

He turned and looked around the ballroom, looking for a door, but there wasn't one. How did he even get in this room? Jacob maneuvered back to the bed and began to push it; maybe there was a trapdoor underneath. As he grabbed the end of the bed frame, an earth shattering ringing burst into the air and Jacob felt his body go limp, and his eyes begin to close as he crumpled on the floor.

**Authors Note: In case you didn't know, the surgery gown that he's wearing is based off of the gown costume from the original Haunting Ground. I do enjoy writing this but there wasn't very much action in this chapter, it was mainly to introduce the main character, who I do own, but nothing else. I like how well this fanfic is going because I will try as hard as I possibly can to make this one of the best fanfics in the Haunting Ground category.**


	3. Chapter 2

**Authors Note: Well seeing how the last chapter ended, I'm excited to get this one started! I hope you enjoy it because the only one of my friends that would greatly enjoy this doesn't even know I'm writing it! She's probably my only true friend because she's the only one who doesn't put me down or diss my tastes. Anyway, onto the story!**

The world blurred into vision and Jacob found himself waking from a deep sleep once again. His head pounded and it felt as if his very soul itself was throbbing in pain. He reached his hand to scratch his nose, but small clinking noises and the ice-cold touch of chilled metal on his wrist immediately stopped him, literally. He discovered that he was restrained by four metal shackles at the wrists and ankles, and they looked really old and rusty from what he could see in the intense darkness.

He writhed and struggled as much as he could; pulling the wrist shackles as far away from the surface he was chained to. And the loud snapping noise rang out into the darkness followed by small echoing clinking noises, the left chain on the shackle had snapped clean in two and metal pieces went bouncing into nothingness. Now he thought they really were as old as he imagined.

Just as he began pulling the other wrist restraint, a loud thump echoed from the darkness and his brain seemed to register it as a footstep. Jacobs pulse quickened, feeling helpless at the thought that it was his demented captor coming to torture him some more. The other wrist shackle snapped and he sat up frantically to view his surroundings, which were hardly distinguishable in the dim light emanating from a large rusty vent positioned near the floor on the closest wall.

Jacob desperately worked to get the ankle restraints off and fought to stand up on wobbly legs. He couldn't run to anywhere, as the only door was where the footsteps were coming from, and now they were extremely close. He ran to the vent and tried to pry off the cover, but his fingers wouldn't fit, and it didn't help the feeling of an impending doom. He grabbed a piece of a snapped femur from the floor and jammed it between the wall and the vent, and began to pry the vent away.

It broke off and clattered to the floor making Jacob jump; he dropped the femur and slid through the hole. It led to an underground small square shaped indent that was supposed to be for a basement window, but someone had put a vent cover up instead. The ledge went just about to his neck and beyond was a small garden clearing, but it wasn't the same one from before. He had no problem pulling himself up because he had taken many gymnastics classes before, and once he was up he dusted the dirt off the stained surgery gown.

Poppies sprouted up from the ground around him and rhododendron bushes had been placed against the stone wall of the building he had just escaped. A frustrated yell came from the window and Jacob began to sprint, to where he didn't know, but he did know that if his captor found him he would fear for his life.

**Authors Note: Please comment, as I worked really hard on this chapter, and I feel it was really good, but if this had happened to me, I don't think I would grab a femur off a dark cellar floor for anything XD! Well enjoy the next chapter once it's posted because I'm going to bed.**


	4. Chapter 3

**Authors Note: I like how Jacob is willing to do anything in order to survive and that kind of reminds me of how much I've fought for to get where I am today and I know that no matter what, I will not be going back. Onto the third chapter then.**

The wind rushed through Jacob's ears as he ran on and on in the strange little garden that seemed to go on forever. And he tripped. The large root of an early autumn sycamore displaced his momentum and he sprawled forward, the ground rushing up to meet him. He looked around as he lay on the ground, there was no one in sight and the garden trail led up to a turn just ahead.

Jacob pushed himself carefully to his feet and continued onwards at a slow walk. As he neared the corner he heard a distant footstep, barely audible as it stepped on the frost-stiffened grass. Jacob's heart leapt and his pulse quickened, and he slowly peered around the corner of the brick wall. There it was, the majestic garden from earlier, and it was even more amazing from up close.

In his amazement, he barely noticed the teenage girl wrapped in a sheet, wandering the garden with a look of fear mixed with confusion. She was absolutely beautiful, flawless from head to toe with bright blonde hair and a perfect face to sleek long legs and defined feet. She couldn't have been his captor, there was no way, but seeing as how twisted this place was he was in the wrong position to doubt.

She soon moved out of view as she climbed a large set of tan brick stairs that led up to a landing with an antique green door. And then Jacob's eyes moved above the door, to the amazing dome-shaped top of the castle that the girl had disappeared into. It was surrounded by pillars that rose into the sky and many windows that loomed on the smaller complexes all around. He never knew that something like this existed, and still with it before his eyes, he refused to believe it was there.

Never before had such a gloomy dark sky as a backdrop ever made such a beautiful thing look even better. Jacob decided to find another way into the castle than the door that the girl had took, just in case she was his captor. He walked to the base of the stairs and saw that the landing went even further than the next set of stairs, leading out of sight, and that's the path he chose.

He hurriedly ascended the staircase and continued past the stairs the girl had taken, and came upon a steel gate that hung loosely on its hinges and he opened it with a small squeak. The stone ledge continued on and there was a large empty space occupied by a small shaft that led deep into the castle wall, of course the path led on and it looked like it led to a bridge, but Jacob had made his mind. Into the shaft it was.

He got down on his stomach and slid into the small shaft, and slowly he slid into the darkness, hoping that his choices were not the death of him. And his shape dissolved and he couldn't see, but he could hear, but he could only hear the dubious creaks and pops signifying this nightmare was about to get weirder.

**Authors Note: Well I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and in case you didn't already know that girl was Fiona. It was kind of plain to see though. Well I don't know about you but I'm tired and ready to go to bed, so goodnight and enjoy the next chapter. And please do comment as well, and that means you Knux an Alexa! Bye!**


	5. Chapter 4

**Authors Note: Well just another chapter… I shouldn't say it like that, I should say it like: Yay another chapter! I am excited to continue the production of my fanfic after a long, boring day at school. Now read and review and enjoy!**

Jacob's eyes became used to the ominous darkness after a while of slowly sliding through the shaft, and he hoped he didn't come to any corners. He sneezed and it echoed deeply in all sorts of distorted keys and sounds, and soon faded into the air.

He could see a speck of light in the distant darkness and assuming it was an exit, he picked up his pace as much as a 13 year old boy crammed into a shaft could. Soon enough he discovered that it opened up in a storage cellar, and it was tightly surrounded by boxes full of files. Jacob pulled himself out and stood up, his legs feeling slightly stiff. A wine bottle rack lined the other side of the cellar and at the middle there was an opening for a wooden staircase, and a small wooden table stood alone in the center of the cellar. The side that he was on was consumed by boxes of miscellaneous items such as diaries, files, sketched maps, and loose papers.

An idea suddenly sparked in his head, and he began to rummage through a box of sketched maps. He threw random maps aside searching for the one that he wanted, maps of forests and mansions flying into the air as he discarded them. And he found it, the exact map he had been looking for; it was a map of the castle's first floor and gardens. He saw the enormous garden he'd gone through to get to where he was, and he saw that the storage cellar led up to a kitchen and-

The sharp sound of splintering boards sounded from further up the staircase and it was followed by the loud noise of a boot cuffing stone and Jacob realized someone was descending the staircase. He quickly set the map on the small wooden table and got on his stomach and prepared to wriggle back into the shaft. As he began to hide he saw the antique leather boots of the person coming down the stairs, and his head disappeared into the shaft just as they reached the bottom of the flight of stairs.

Jacob positioned his head so that he could see the person, only to find the girl he'd seen from earlier concentrating on the castle map he had desperately thrown on the table in his hurry to hide. She took the map in her hands and started folding it into a small square, and she put it in a small pocket on her medieval-ish looking outfit. She examined the room for a short time more, and after she realized there was nothing else useful, she headed back up the staircase.

Jacob felt slightly frustrated that she had just taken the only map of the castle, and he had to dig through hundreds of maps to find it. He was also annoyed at the fact that she'd managed to find some pretty decent shoes and he had to walk through icily frosted grass barefoot. As soon as the girl was gone, Jacob quit fretting and climbed out of the shaft and walked towards the stairs, eager to continue exploring and hopefully find a way out of this hellish place.

Jacob neared the top of the flight of stairs, about to enter what was supposed to be a kitchen but he stopped dead in his tracks when a deep-throated yell erupted from the room ahead. Jacob reached the doorway and peeked around the corner, and indeed it was a kitchen but there was the teenage girl face to face with a mentally debilitated man. Jacob felt almost concerned for her as the man suddenly took a wild swing at her, and she screamed and fell back. The man leaned over the counter and proceeded to swat at her almost playfully and he cried the only word he was able to say, "Fiona!"

Was that the girl's name? Was her name really Fiona? It was such an elegant, beautiful, name that fit her altogether. Jacob still couldn't let them know he was there, even though so badly he wanted to help her, because he believed the man didn't know he could hurt Fiona. Fiona began to crawl around the counter, towards a door that led to what Jacob remembered from the map as a large, curvy, hall.

Fiona slammed the door behind her after she desperately exited the room, and Jacob stepped away from the doorway so the man wouldn't see him as he raced for the door after her. Jacob sprinted to the door after the man entered the hall as well, seeing that showing himself was the last possible thing to do to help Fiona if the situation went to extremes.

Jacob saw the man looming over Fiona and he was about to run up and grab the man in an attempt to save her when a very commanding voice echoed from around the corner of the end of the hall near Fiona, "Exire Debilitas!"

The man who the voice had called Debilitas turned around and he locked eyes with Jacob, while the voice continued to speak to Fiona and she stared around the corner at whoever was talking. "I am Riccardo," It said, and somehow it sounded strangely familiar to Jacob. He couldn't worry about that know though, Debilitas was strangely smiling and it struck an ominous feeling in Jacob's mind, and he said in his slurred debilitated voice "Dolly!"

And Jacob sprinted back into the kitchen, hearing Debilitas' loud footsteps get louder and quicken to a run. He knew Debilitas was pursuing him now, under the belief that he was a doll. The large man chased Jacob through the kitchen, passing the stairs and flying through another door that opened up to a grand dining room. Another door was at the other end of the dining room and Jacob strained to pick up speed to avoid Debilitas' dangerous swings.

The door slammed open on squeaky hinges and opened up to a gigantic marble staircase being the only escape route. Jacob took the steps two at a time and there were two doors at the top, one forward and one to the left. He swerved left slamming through the door and listening to Debilitas' strange call from the middle of the stairs as he continued to pursue. The door led into a suite where a clock gently ticked and a bed laid neat and clean and a set of four stairs led down to a another door that led outdoors.

As Jacob made it outside, he stopped in disbelief, viewing the garden from earlier; he had just exited from the castle where he watched Fiona enter from the gardens. Jacob had completely forgotten about Debilitas in his thinking about how he had made a circle, and the debilitated man stormed out on the landing.

Jacobs's self-defense karate combat classes kicked him into gear and he pushed Debilitas away from him. He twisted into a reverse roundhouse and jumped back as Debilitas stumbled backward and cried out in surprise, and darted forward and knocked Jacob in the face with his huge fist. Jacob recoiled and fell back hard on his bottom and rolled to the side as the now angry man rushed at him with powerful fists. He quickly stood up to face Debilitas and gracefully danced into a spinning back kick, and it knocked the huge man back, and he stumbled over the railing and plummeted to the garden below.

**Authors Note: I tried hard to make this chapter longer than the others and I hope you enjoyed it because it took me freaking two hours thank you very much. Well I liked that Jacob at least has a better form of self defense than Fiona's little kick/shove, but that's just me. Until next time, bye!**


	6. Chapter 5

**Authors Note: Prepare for chapter five, hooray! Gosh that last chapter went through a lot, and it even introduced Riccardo! Well it's not over yet, read, review, and enjoy!**

Jacob wheezed and hacked as he exhaustedly walked to the rail where Debilitas had fallen, and he looked over. Debilitas lay there in silence and Jacob began to hope the dangerous man was dead, and the body started moving again. Jacob backed up, eyes wide in disbelief. How could he not be dead! He had fallen so far and hard, something a normal human couldn't have possibly survived.

Jacob looked over again and he saw Debilitas desperately escaping through the gardens as he held his side in pain. Jacob felt oddly relieved that Debilitas was fleeing and he wasn't but something in his mind kept him lingering from the subject. It was that voice that spoke to Fiona in the hall just before he had fled. All he could recall was the name: Riccardo.

Somehow it was so familiar, so was that girl; Fiona. And not being able to remember anything didn't help, he couldn't remember how he had gotten to that ballroom, but he insisted on figuring out. All of this was so demented he was starting to believe deep inside himself, he was starting to lose his sanity. He walked down the steps halfway and sat down, still out of breath, and contemplated on what to do next.

Somehow he needed to escape, and there must still be many places he had not explored yet that could somehow lead beyond the restricting stone wall he'd seen on the map that circled the castle. There was a small whooping noise inside the suite, but it was barely distinguishable even though the door was open. Jacob stood up and rushed to the door hoping it was Fiona, and hoping that she was okay.

He silently peered around the doorway and saw a hooded figure caressing Fiona's sleeping face as she lie on the suite bed. "My darling, how long I have waited to collect the precious essence you hold. The time has come for your life to create new!" The hooded figure had the same voice as the man from the hall. "Riccardo!" Jacob whispered to himself and he continued to watch. "Your life is mine now Fiona!" and Riccardo leaned down slowly, and Jacob realized that he was about to kill Fiona.

"NO!" Jacob yelled in panic and he ran into the suite, scooping a vase of wilted flowers from the table, and he launched them at Riccardo. They hit his head and shattered on impact, and the man abruptly spun around, pulling out an antique flintlock pistol.

The explosive bang was deafening, and the pain unreal. Blood poured from the orifice on Jacobs shoulder and leaked into the stained surgery gown, soaking it a dark red. Jacob yelled out and clasped his arm, seeing his eyes haze over with tears. "You damn nuisance, I'm saving your azoth for later, but it's just as valuable if _dead._ You won't be escaping this time you goddamn brat!" Riccardo seethed with anger and began to quickly walk towards Jacob.

Jacob struggled to run; he went quickly out on the terrace and ran down the flights of stairs, clasping his arm as blood dripped. Three more deafening shots rang out, and Jacob felt them thinly whiz past him. He swerved past the fountain and headed down the path towards where he'd woken up chained earlier.

He quickly rounded the corner, and that's when the late autumn sycamore root displaced his step again, and Jacob tumbled to the frosty ground once more. He heard the thumping footsteps of Riccardo behind him as he struggled to his feet, but it was already too late, Riccardo booted him and Jacob fell further. He landed on his wounded arm, and quickly turned over to see the flintlock pointed point-blank in his face.

"You've run far enough; now let me get back to my substance harvesting" Riccardo said, cocking the firearm and tensing his hand, and the white beast leapt onto his back. It bit him ferociously in the back of the neck and thrashed around violently, pulling Riccardo all over the place. Something flew from the wild thrashing bounced to Jacob's feet, and he scooped it up and read. "Hewie," Jacob whispered.

It was hauntingly familiar, but Jacob didn't care, it was a collar and the beast was a white German Sheppard and that was its name. "Hewie!" Jacob called, sounding as commanding as he possibly could with a shaky voice. The canine, sharply tugged back at Riccardo and forced him to the ground, where he lay still. The dog sat at Jacob's side and glared at Riccardo's writhing body, and judging how things had gone for Jacob so far he probably wasn't dead.

"Stay here boy, and make sure that man doesn't follow me," Jacob whispered to Hewie, and limped down the path, being sure to step over the root this time. As he desperately fled, he neared the building where he had escaped earlier. Jacob stopped and ripped a length of cloth from the sleeve on his good arm and tied it tightly around his bullet wound, and the blood flow slowed.

Jacob pressed on, transferring to a jog and he unclasped his wound. He was hoping, praying that Riccardo wouldn't find him and the things that he'd said just pried at Jacobs mind. What was Azoth? What did Riccardo mean by harvesting Fiona's essence? What the hell was going on in this twisted nightmare, he just wanted to help Fiona so they could both escape.

There was an animal's yelp in the distance; it was a painful cry of agony and dismay. It was followed by a warbling howl that almost made Jacob burst into tears, and he cried out into the still air, "Hewie!"

**Authors Note: Yipee! Hewie is awesome! Go guard dog from heaven above! Anyway, I'm tired, its one in the morning, and I wanna go to bed! See you next chapter, and don't forget to review!**


	7. Chapter 6

**Authors Note: I'm back and ready for this chapter so you better be too! Know let's get to reading because I'm so excited to write this!**

What had he just done! Jacob couldn't believe that he'd just yelled out when it must've obviously been Riccardo who'd hurt Hewie! Now Riccardo was probably headed down the garden path, coming to end Jacob's reign of annoyance and disruption. He quickly continued on, passing the vent-window thing he'd escaped from earlier, now thinking about it, it was probably Riccardo's footsteps he had heard down there, probably coming to collect his "essence".

Jacob didn't care right now though, he just wanted to get away from Riccardo, and hopefully get back inside. He continued down the path nearing overgrown shrubbery surrounding something blue, and in his mind, Jacob prayed for a way back inside. He rushed over to the weeds and pulled them from the tall blue object, discovering a partially rusted ancient-looking door. Jacob grabbed the knob and- it wouldn't turn, it was rusted into place, and so were the hinges.

The knob fell off and landed with a thump in the withering autumn grass, and cracked slightly. Obviously the metal had been aging under the corroding rust for ages, and with a little force it would've fallen apart anyway. And an idea sparked in Jacob's head, and he backed away from the door, breathing out and tensing up. He ran forward, jumping into the air and bringing his legs as close to him as he could, keeping his feet out. He thrusted his legs out with all his might as he collided with the door, making is hinges disintegrate and sending the door flying inward.

Jacob landed on his bottom and looked inside. The room was dimly lit by an eerie blue light centered on the ceiling, shining down upon many bookcases. He stepped over the fallen blue door and examined a few of books on the nearest shelf. Most were old and neglected-looking, and all of them were written in Latin. Fortunately he knew Latin, he learned it just a year ago, but he wasn't very fluent in it. Jacob selected a violet-colored volume and read the title, "Finis Coronat Opat Azoth".

If he was correct, "finis coronat opus "meant "the end crowns the work of", but Jacob didn't think the word "Azoth" was even Latin. Obviously it was some sort of process or something, but the lettering in the book was much too water-smudged to read. He set the book down ant grabbed another one, this one titled "Azoth, Ultima Vox". As far as he knew, it meant: "Azoth, the Ultimate Power", but still he didn't get the word Azoth.

Sure that creepy Riccardo had uttered it few times, but it had no significance in Jacob's mind. Maybe it was some sort of ancient medicine or something, and that was the last thought that ran through Jacob's head, then he heard the gentle, almost inaudible footsteps. He'd felt this was a regular occurrence by now, but his heart wasn't beating any slower than it had before. He was about 20 feet away from the door he had entered from, but he was totally concealed by bookcases.

And then Jacob dropped the book.

**Authors Note: Wow, there have been a lot of footstep scenes, but they are pretty dramatic when they do occur. Anyway I hope you liked this chapter, I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while, I've been busy and my life has been hectic. Well if anyone does read this (which I highly doubt, except for my awesome friends, because they always read it) I thank you, because I don't actually think people read it, but I hope so. Anyway join me for chapter seven to see what happens next! **


	8. Chapter 7

**Authors Note: Wow, chapter seven, so close to ten, anyway doesn't listen to my jabbering, read! Enjoy! REVIEW!**

The footsteps momentarily paused as the loud boom of the book hitting the ground, and Jacob could hear the steady, determined breathing of Riccardo, he assumed. Then the footsteps continued, head straight in his direction, and Jacob started to run, deeper into what seemed like a never-ending maze of bookshelves. Lanterns lined the bookshelves on the floor, dimly lighting the floor enough as to where Jacob could see where he was running.

And Jacob's foot collided with one of the lanterns, sending it spinning and smashing on the floor, lamp oil soaking the tile, and immediately blazing into a wall of flame, prohibiting him from turning around. He continued on, hoping Riccardo wasn't crazy enough to leap through the wall of flame, and he ran straight into the back wall. There weren't any doors or anything; Jacob was stuck at the back of the library, pinned down by a wall of flame. He frantically pulled books off the shelf that lined the wall, hoping for some sort of secret trap door or something, but all books came off and nothing happened.

"Damn it!" Jacob screamed, and another lantern exploded at his feet, sending more flames sprawling across the bookshelves. He fell back and scooted away from the impending wall of heat, and the floor collapsed in on itself, sending Jacob sprawling into empty space. He felt time slow as burning rafters scraped his face and he fell further and further, and he struggled to turn himself around in midair. Jacob felt cinders burn his skin and melt the fibers of the skintight surgery-gown, and he hit the dirt floor. Hard.

The air escaped his lungs, and Jacob could feel it compress into the nearby air, leaving him breathless. He struggled to pull in a breath, violently wheezing and gasping as if his life depended on it. And he laid there, dazed, letting cooling air penetrate his lungs, he stared blankly at the ceiling. The footsteps echoed in the distance, slowly getting quieter, and he watched the flames slowly die down. Jacob slowly pushed himself up from the floor, hesitantly examining his surroundings.

He appeared to be in some sort of underground greenhouse or garden room; he'd landed in a corner surrounded by ferns that obscured mostly everything from view. The ferns were unbelievably large, they reached about nine feet in the air, and each leaf was about two feet wide. There had to be a path that led around the garden somewhere outside the ferns, Jacob needed to find it and get out of there. He pushed through the ferns, stepping over the bases of them and he stumbled out onto cracked stone path.

Many types of assorted trees and shrubs surrounded the path, and the path ended at a red door about 20 feet away. He hastily walked towards the door, cautiously twisting the knob and hurrying through, emerging into the most enormous planetarium he'd ever seen. A gigantic solar system model floated in the center of the room, emanating a shimmering blue aura. A humongous telescope stood stalwart on an elegant balcony above Jacob's head, with a spiral ebony staircase on a solid gold platform leading up to it. The atmosphere nearly took his breath away, but he was rather hesitant to let happen again.

Jacob assumed that the solar system model was magnetically levitated, as there was no other way it could've been suspended there. This room must've cost like a billion dollars, it was truly unbelievable! He stepped forward, examining the walls for another door, and he noticed a barely audible chiming in the air. It was strangely relaxing, considering the situation, but it didn't matter now. There was a door on the adjacent side of the room, painted with the same gold-leafy pattern as the rest of the room, as if it was designed to blend in.

The only thing that gave it away was the door handle and enormous plaque on the door. The door was locked, unfortunately for Jacob, he would have to go back to the garden, but then he read the plaque. "The key to proceeding lies in space." He read it aloud thinking hard if the statement was literal, was the key actually in space? He kept thinking about the probability and other possibilities, and he walked over and leaned against Saturn, which was the closest to the floor in the levitating model.

"Or…" he thought, and he slowly gazed up at the sun model. The key slowly spun in levitation, about 30 feet in the air by the sun. Jacob sighed and pushed himself into a sitting position on Saturn, swearing silently in his head. He carefully stood up and looked for another planet to jump to, and he spotted Jupiter. He tensed himself and jumped, praying for the miracle that he would somehow be able to climb up on it, and he landed up to his armpits, feeling himself immediately start to lose traction. Jacob desperately struggled to pull himself up, kicking off the bottom of the planet, and quickly pushing up.

He took a brief moment to catch his breath, and he saw that there was only way to the sun, and it looked quite difficult. He jumped and kicked off Mars, coiling his legs and he landed on Venus and he kicked off Mercury landing unsteadily on the sun. Jacob's feet slid out from under him and he landed on his side, struggling not to fly right off. The key floated lazily in midair, it probably being magnetically levitated as well, and he prepared himself, tensing up and putting his arm out, ready to catch the key. He jumped, feeling as if he was actually flying through space, and he grabbed the key and plummeted to the ground, landing in a sloppy roll.

Jacob dusted himself off and walked to the door, feeling wildly happy with himself for not dying. He inserted the key into the lock and muttered, " Fiona, I'm coming to help you."


End file.
